Presenting a splendid disposition from a very beginning of the season which led him to victories in the Vuelta a Andalucia with three stages claimed in the process, Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia and Roma Maxima, Alejandro Valverde tested his legs for the first time on the Flemish cobbled roads in the Dwars door Vlaanderen yesterday. Despite crossing the line 36th, the lean Movistar leader certainly surpassed everyone’s expectations, being one of the protagonists in the Flemish semi-classic.

Despite facing unfavorable weather conditions again, Valverde apparently enjoyed a new challenge he was provided with and admitted that everything went exactly according to his predictions.

"I am happy. I think that it was all OK over the pavé. We knew that it would be hard, but we couldn’t have asked for a better race and I’m really happy," he said at the finish.

"(It was) spectacular. In general the whole atmosphere and the sensations were really good."

Dwars door Vlaanderen marked a debut of the 33-year old Spaniard in cobbled races, but the Movistar leader entered the competition in a splendid disposition and, after crossing a finish line, admitted that this new experience was not, in fact, entirely different while compared to well-known Ardennes classics or World Championships.

"I haven’t experienced this race, but I have a lot of experience in the finishes at Liège, Amstel, Flèche, the Tour and the Worlds. It’s not so different in the finish," he said.

"I am not surprised, because I knew that I would be OK. The sensations were good and I felt good in the finish,"

Valverde could have been slightly concerned about his debut on cobbles after the rain welcomed riders lining up at the start of Dward door Vlaanderen yesterday, making the stretches of pave even more tricky to negotiate.

However, the versatile 33-year old Spaniard not only looked untroubled by the conditions, but all the time was present at a front of the constantly shrinking peloton and finally, with just over 20 kilometers to go, followed a move of Stijn Devolder to become a part of a four-rider chasing group.

Valverde ended up victorious when he launched similar attack in the Roma Maxima earlier this month, however, thing turned out differently this time around and the chasing group was eventually reeled in by the peloton as they never managed to significantly reduce a gap to Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quick Step).

The Movistar Team leader admitted that a victory was beyond his reach this time without more demanding climbs in the last 20 kilometers.

"To win would have been difficult with Steegmans on my wheel, but maybe I could have done it with some harder climbs in the finish," he explained.

Encouraged by his first experience and eager to negotiate more cobbled stretches before the feared fifth stage of the Tour de France kicks off in July, Valverde will line up again in E3 Harelbeke tomorrow on a testy course which may prove even more to his liking. However, the Spaniard was reluctant to reveal whether he plans a similar move on the Flemish hilly parcours on Friday.

"We will see what happens on Friday," Valverde concluded.